Babs’ travels -The Peking to Paris Rally and other driving adventures.

 It's been strange not having wifi for two weeks.  We got used to it, but were all looking forward to getting connected again on the last night of the rally when we were staying at a beachside, 5* hotel, near Durban. Some things are not meant to be.  Their system was down, and had been been for several days, apparently. Black mark Fairmont Group.  Therefore, it is only now, in Cape Town, where A and I are spending a couple of post-rally days, that I have reliable internet. Lesotho was astounding and exceeded my expectations. It's magisterial beauty, remote wildness and the uber friendly Basotho people charmed us all.  The driving, mostly on dirt roads was prettying challenging at times, but always great fun. We left in sadness, but were eager for the next phase of our trip. We had a transit night, somewhere or other and all of us found returning to busy and comparatively  urbanised SA a bit of a shock. It's amazing what 9 days ...

Just trying this post. Having not had wifi/phone/electricity for days in Lesotho, were back in SA in a charming Inn but the wifi is impossible.  Photos to follow. I haven't been this disconnected from the world for a very long time.  At first, I felt slightly panicky, but after a couple of days I'm really not that bothered. Of course, when we do get some wifi again, probably tomorrow night, I will be thrilled, but for now, writing this in the most beautiful, serene and remote valley you could ever imagine it's really not a problem. The days are drifting into each other I have no idea if it's Friday or Sunday and it just doesn't matter.     As I write, surrounded by cows and sheep with the odd herder passing by, next to a deep blue lake and on slightly boggy ground with cranes flying overhead in the deep blue sky, all is well with the world. Camp life is very comfortable, the food, cooked by our lovely chef, Tim, is outstanding.  We have ice, beer, wine and ...

After a great night at the Sani Pass some of us got up to watch the sunrise, well Gerard, our photographer and I did, anyway.  The other slugabeds snoozed for a bit longer and missed the best part of the day when the world is waking up. Having only really crossed into Lesotho the day before, as our hotel was in sight of the border post, we set off excitedly into the country. We had an easy start as the road was tarmacced but that soon ended before long and we were on dirt and very rough tracks that were only passable with a 4x4 and presented us with some very challenging driving.  All good fun.  It's not called the 'Kingdom in the sky' for nothing.  Up, down, up, down is the order of the day.  We passed through many attractive villages of mainly thatched rondevals, all with their own shiny new latrine next to them. There has been a massive programme to give every household its own latrine and it is good to see. The villages are very orderly and mostly compl...

This missive comes to you from Africa's highest pub, after a splendid morning and with your correspondent fortified by beer and chips. What else could a girl want? We entered Lesotho, the Kingdom in the the sky, a couple of hours ago via the Sani Pass which happens to also be Africa's motorable road.  We are on The High Road 4x4adventure organised by the marvellous Duncan And Verity the owners of Tour de Force UK.  What a blast it's  proving to be. The first couple of days were spent in the shadow of the Drakensburg mountains at the atmospheric Cleopatra Farmhouse catching up with old friends, getting acquainted with our vehicles, eating great food and generally fortifying ourselves for the adventure ahead. We are a very select group of 10 cars. We are in hired Hiluxes for this trip, all full equipped for bush camping.  Our first day of driving has been utterly fabulous.  It was only 140 kms up here, to Sani Pass, our home for the night, but it was far from...